Calculator



March 3, 1953 I s. A. AYRES CALCULATOR Filed Jan. 23, 1952 000 I EVE-N55790 468.

EQUAL o2 OVEQ- ADD! UNDER.

1 4 1 mm y I T I Patented Mar. 3, 1953 CALCULATOR Sarah Ann Ayres,Hermosa Beach, Calif.

Application January 23, 1952, Serial No. 267,828

8 Claims.

This invention relates to calculators of the type in which an innercylinder with numbers and. other indicia carried thereby is rotatedwithin an outside hood suitably rendered opaque except for one or morewindows flanked by other numbers and indicia through which the numbersand indicia on the inner cylinder are successively visible as the innercylinder is turned. The windowed hood may take the form of an outertransparent cylinder concentric with the inner cylinder and carrying asheet of opaque paper, in which case it acts also as a protector for theinner cylinder. Or the windowed opaque hood may be protected by aseparate overall transparent housing.

It is one object of the invention to so mount the windowed hood that thecharacters on the cylinder beneath the window may be easily readableirrespective of the angle of the line of sight of the operator withrespect to the horizontal plane of the axis of the cylinder.

This invention relates particularly to calculators in which the windowedhood takes the 2 ing the assembled cylinders removed from the support.

form of an outer concentric cylinder carrying a I windowed sheet ofopaque paper or other opaque material. It is another object to providefor the ready assembly a nd disassembly of the two cylinders.Interchangeability of outer and inner cylinders thereby is made possibleas occasion may require. It is still another object to provide for novelarrangements of the indicia on one or both of the indicia carryingelements to facili-' tate the calculating operation.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a lightweight,inexpensive, sturdily constructed, and attractive appearing calculatorpossessing convenience of operation and manipulation.

Other objects and advantages will be evident from the followingdescription of the invention and from the appended claims, read inconjunction with the accompanying drawing. While the description anddrawing illustrate one embodiment of the invention, the invention is notlimited to the particular calculator herein shown but embraces alldevices coming within thescope of the definitions set forth in theclaims.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a calculator embodying the invention,shown partly in section;

Figure 2 is an end view of the calculator;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the assembled calculatorshowing one end thereof; and Figure 41s aviewsimilarta Eigure 3, bu-tshow- The calculator comprises a support i I, an outer hollow cylinder I2 and an inner cylinder I3. Each of these three parts of the calculatorare shown as a permanently and fixedly assembled whole, and the threeparts may be disassembled as three separate bodies without alteration oftheir structure.

The support or base I I takes the specific form as herein described ofan elongated core Id of any suitable material, aS for example wood,presentin in cross section a trough shaped contour as shown in Figures2, 3, and 4. This core is surfaced on its horizontally flat bottom facewith a strip I5 of felt or similar non-slip material and is surfacedover the rest of its longitudinally extending area with a strip IS ofmetal or other light friction material, affording a wear resisting,relatively low friction supporting surface for ready rotary movement ofthe outer cylinder thereon, and providing a strong base for thesecurement of the cylinder retaining holders IT as will later appear.

The outer cylinder 52 is made of a transparent preferably plasticmaterial. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the cylinderI2 serves both to provide a windowed hood movable over the face of theinner cylinder and as a protector for the inner cylinder. This isbrought about by fixing to either the inner or outer surface of thecylinder I 2, an opaque sheet which may be formed of a suitable paperhaving a windowforming opening therein and upon which appears numerals,characters, words, symbols and other indicia pertinent to a particularcalculating" operation. In the calculator shown in the drawing, theoperation happens to be that of computing the income withholding tax andthe federal old age benefit for the full range of salary and Wagepayments covered by the federal law in these two respects. The opaquesheet is adhesively bonded to preferably the inner surface of thecylinder I2, to bring the characters closer to the exposed surface ofthe inner cylinder. This sheet is then preferably protected from wearand tear againstthe inner cylinder by a backing (not shown) of a thincylindrically shaped sheet of transparent plastic material.

' Although in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the opaquesheet is bonded to the inner surface of the outer cylinder I2, it isobvious that it could be movably mounted between the twocylinders sothat it may be arcuately moved relative to both cylinders to'vary theangular relation of the window therein to the supporting base.

The sheet, referring now to Figure 1, has a cutout longitudinallyextending slot l8 reaching across the entire area of the sheet uponwhich the indicia appear. It may also be formed with a circumferentiallyextending slot perpendicularly intersecting the slot I8 such as is shownin the drawing and designated by the numeral l9. These slots may, ofcourse, be provided by se curing a plurality of spaced apart sheets ofpaper to the cylinder instead of by cutting the slots in a single sheetof paper.

In order to clearly set forth the manner of-;operation of thecalculator, the particular arrangement of indicia on this sheet for theabove named computation will be described. Centrally of the sheet andjust above window [8 appears a block of words and arrows as shown topoint out :two adjacent circumferential columns on the inner cylinderwhich, as will be described below, state upper and lower wage limits. Tothe right of this block appear the numerals to to register with theamounts of withholding tax specified bylaw as the deduction for eachnumber of dependents of the employee from 0 to 1-0 which appear in thewindow [8 alined with these numerals 0 to 10. To the left of thearrow-marked block appear two blocks of characters above the Window slotI 8 and two other blocks of characters below the window l8circumferentially alined, respectively, with these upper blocks forcomputing the federal old age benefit deduction. The upper left hand oneof these four blocks has the odd numbers l to 9 and the upper right handblock, the

even numbers 0 to 8. The lower left hand block carries the legend Under67" and the lower right hand block, the legend Under 34. Un der .both ofthese legends appear the words Equal or over--add 1. The manner of usingthese four blocks of indicia will be considered in connection with thedescription of the inner cylinder.

The inner cylinder I3 is of a diameter to fit snugly within the outercylinder i-2, with just enough clearance to allow free relativerotation, the inner cylinder resting upon and slida'bly en gaging thebottom of the outer cylinder. This cylinder is shown with circular endwalls '26. Its cylindrical surface has adhesively bonded to it a sheetof paper 21 on which is printed the above mentioned two columns ofnumerals designating wage limits, and on which is also printed tenlongitudinally alined rows of figures to the right designating theincome tax deductions for ten numbers of dependents, respectively. Tothe left of the wage limit columns appear ten columns of figures showingthe old age benefit deductions for each Wage numerically between the twohorizontally alined wage amounts in the wage limit columns. To morequickly orientate a users eye, the directions odd and even are placed,as shown, just above the window and odd and even digits are horizontallyarranged intermediate these designations and the window. These digitsindicate the unit dollars of a wage earned by an employee. Thus, forinstance, if the em ployees wage is $283.75 for a stated period, thewage is an odd or uneven amount and the deduction will be found underthe number 3 in the upper left hand block on the outer cylinder, i. e.$4.25 to which, however, must be added 1c making the deduction $4.26since the direction in the lower left block instructs the operator forwages 4 of odd number of dollars to add 1 if the cents portion of thewage is equal to or over 67.

To facilitate the location of the particular Wage figure for any givenemployee, a narrow circumferen'tially extended space clear of figures isprovided just to the left of the wage limit figures, which thusregisters with the circumferentially extended window 19. This spacecarries a row of colored bands 20, each band corresponding to a givenrange of wages, as, for instance, a red band for wages from $80.00 to$120.00 for a given wage period. The band of any color, as for instancethe red band as shown in the drawing,

may be broken intermediate its ends to indicate an intermediate wageamount as, for instance, $100.00.

.A pair of holder clips I! are secured, as by welding, to the metalstrip l6 of the base support. These clips each have an inwardlyextending horizontal section 2.2 (see Figure 3) and an upturned ton ue23 at the inner end of the section 22. The outercylinder 1.2 has securedto its outer surface at each of its ends a curved band 24 which extendsoutwardly beyond the end face of the cylinder forming a flange,extending over a limited arc of the end edge of the cylinder. The twoflanges :24 are longitudinally alined with each other.

The lower face of the section 22 of the clip .2! frictionally engagesthe inner surface of the flange 24, allowing the cylinder to be manuallyturned on its base, but holding it, in the absence of manual force, frombeing dislocated from any chosen position. The ton ues 23 are spacedapart to loosely and non-frictionally engage the ends of the outer andinner cylinders-which are of substantially the same length, and thusprevent endwise movement of the cylinders relative to each other or onthe base support H, as long as the holder section 22 holds the outercylinder against the base. But when the outer cylinder is turned untilthe gaps between the ends of the [flanges 2 4 are adjacent the holders,the two cylinders may be readily lifted from the base and separated fromeach other. A pair of knobs 25 is provided on the ends of the innercylinder for use by the operator in turning it within the outer cylinderand in lifting the cylinders from the base.

The mounting and securement of the two cylinders to the base, as justdescribed, permits the outer cylinder to be turned to place the windowt8 perpendicular to the line of sight of the operator, whether the eyesof the operator be level with the calculator, vertically above thecalculater, or at an intermediate position. It also permits the twocylinders, toibe readily removed from the .base and readilydisassemble-d for making a change of one or the other. For instance, theinner cylinder shown in the drawing has a sheet f paper mounted thereonwith deductions suitable for a bi-weekly wage period as indicated at theright hand end of Figure 1. Usin the same outside cylinder, thecalculator may be readied for computing deductions from wages orsalaries paid on a weekly, monthly, or semi-monthly basis by removingthe biweekly inner cylinder and in serting the properly marked innercylinder in its place.

Iic laim:

1. Ina calculator, the combination of: a support; a hollow firstcylinder of transparent material ounted on the support and having arotary slidable frictional engagement therewith, said-cylindertherebymounted for angular movement of the cylinder about an axis; a sheet ofopaque material secured to one of the surfaces of the cylinder, saidsheet having a longitudinally extending window and having longitudinallyalined first indicia circumferentially adjacent the window; a secondcylinder mounted for co-axial rotation within the first cylinder, withits peripheral surface closely adjacent the inner surface of the firstcylinder, the said peripheral surface having marked thereon acircumferentially disposed series of horizontally alined rows of secondindicia, the indicia in each row being of a height to be successivelyand separately readable through said window upon rotation of the secondcylin der relative to the first cylinder.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which the support is of anelongated trough like shape adapted to rest in horizontal position on adesk or the like with the trough directed upwardly, and is provided withend holders for the first cylinder frictionally siidably engaging thecircular ends of the first cylinder.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 in which the first cylinder isprovided with longitudinally alined, arcuate, longitudinally outwardlyextending fianges, and the said holders extend inwardly toward the endsof the first cylinder and frictional'ly slidably engage the innersurface of said flanges.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 in which the longitudinal axis ofsaid window intersects the gaps of said arcuate fianges.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 in which the first and secondcylinders are of substantially equal length, and the second cylinder isloosely supported by and within the first cylinder, and the holders arein the form of clips each anchored at its outer end to the support,thence extending inwardly over and in slidable frictional contact withthe inner surface of the corresponding flange and. having at its innerend an axially centrally directed finger engaging the rim of the firstcylinder and loosely engaging the circumferentia'lly outer portion ofthe end face of the second cylinder.

6. The combination defined in claim 5 in which the second cylinder isprovided on at least one of its ends with a central outwardly projectingmanually operable knob for rotating the second cylinder within andrelative to the first cylinder.

7. In a calculator, the combination of a sup- .port; a hollowtransparent housing member carried by said support; a sheet of opaquematerial mounted within said housing, said sheet having a longitudinallyextending first window and a circumierentially extending second windowintersecting the first window, and said sheet having longitudinallyalined first indicia circumferentially adjacent the first window; acylinder mounted for coaxial rotation within the housing and sheet ofopaque material, said cylinder being of a length substantially equal tothe length of said housing and mounted with its peripheral surfaceclosely adjacent the inner surface of the opaque material, the saidperipheral surface having marked thereon a circumferentially disposedseries of horizontally alined rows of second indicia, the indicia ineach row being of a height to be successively and separately readablethrough said first window upon rotation of the cylinder relative to thesheet of opaque material, and the said peripheral surface havingadditionally marked thereon a circumferentially disposed row of thirdindicia longitudinally registering with said second window; and meanscarried at opposite ends of said support and normally interengaging withthe opposite end faces of said cylinder and holding said cylinderagainst longitudinal movement, thereby to prevent retraction of saidcylinder from said housing without restricting rotation of saidcylinder.

8. A calculator of the type described, comprising: a support; a hollowtransparent housing member movably carried by said support; an opaquesheet member formed with a longitudinally extending window mountedwithin said housing and having a surface facewisely engaging the innersurface of said housing; a cylinder removably mounted for rotation aboutits axis within said housing; indicia carried on said cylinder andviewable through said window; second indicia means carried by saidopaque member laterally adjacent said window and cooperative with theindicia aligned with said window for conveying intelligence; means forangularly displacing said opaque member relative to said axis to varythe angular position of said window relative to said support whereby theline of sight of an operator relative to said window can be varied atthe will of the operator; and means carried at opposite ends of saidsupport and normally interengaging with the opposite end faces of saidcylinder and holding said cylinder against longitudinal movement,thereby to prevent retraction of said cylinder from said housing withoutrestricting rotation of said cylinder.

SARAH ANN AYRES.

REFERENCES error) The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 731,175 Goodman June 16, 1903760,360 Wile May 17, 1904 862,232 Benedict Aug. 6, 1907 894,042 OBrienJuly 21, 1908 1,041,204 Van Renselaer et al. Oct. 15, 1912 2,378,863Posson June 19, 1945

